Strawberries
by devotionless-jade
Summary: "Happy stories deserve a happy ending, and I guess, I got mine" Natsume


**SUMMARY: Mikan had always loved her childhood friend and kept it a secret. Will she have a happy ending? **

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><p><strong>DISCLAIMER: Gakuen Alice does not belong to me.<strong>

**This is my very first one shot so please cooperate with me XD**

**These characters are suffering from OCCness**

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><p>"He's a really nice guy, don't you think?" Mikan whispered to Sumire as she stared at Natsume<p>

"Yeah, he is. Mikan! I'm so envious of you! How did you get such a hot guy for a childhood friend? Give me your secrets!" Sumire was begging Mikan

"I don't have secrets! Come on, Sumire, we grew up in the same town; we were neighbors for crying out loud! Don't you think we'll become friends because of that?" Mikan explained to Sumire while massaging her forehead

"Whatever… Wait, I think I'll just talk to him later, after school, how does that sound?"

"I think its okay? Just don't cling to him, he'll hit you" Mikan laughed as she advised her best friend.

"Ha-ha, wish me luck then!" Sumire smiled as she left Mikan for her next class. Mikan looked at the way her friend walked off and began to frown.

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><p><strong>Mikan's POV:<strong>

"_Sorry Sumire, I can't give you my full support" Mikan thought_

From the start I was a bit envious of Sumire, not only is she nice and confident, but she was also a beauty who has captured the hearts of several people, but though the admirers, she only had her eyes set on Natsume, and that was the one thing that scared me most. It wouldn't be impossible for Natsume to like her too, right? The day she talked to me was also the day she became my friend, we always hang out together and she was very nice to me. She told me her reason for befriending me was to know more about Natsume, but she never expected me to be her best friend. I kinda felt betrayed by that because it seemed like she was using me. But she explained that it wasn't like that at all and she would never do something so horrible to ruin our friendship. I liked her a lot, and accepted her fully. But when she talks about Natsume, I feel pain

_Flashback:_

"_Hey Mikan, tell me the truth" Sumire said_

"_Tell you what?"_

"_You're dating Natsume, aren't you? I always see you two together after school and he never seems to be interested in other girls except you"_

"_I am NOT dating him, we're childhood friends, and besides, he would NEVER like me"_

"_As if! Mikan! You're the campus sweetheart, you're smart, you're nice, heck! All girls would want to be you, you even got a grip on the school hottie, I promise you, I would do anything to switch lives with you"_

"_Stop with the lies Sumire, the only reason why Natsume doesn't talk to other girls is because of the way they act towards him, who wouldn't be irritated if you got your clothes pulled off every time?"_

"_That won't be a problem for him, he has a great body"_

"_Sumire! Eew! I can't believe you just said that!"_

"_What? I'm not lying; he does have a great body"_

"_Whatever Sumire"_

_End of flashack_

You see, I've always been in love with Natsume, but I keep denying it in front of everyone. Ever since the day he helped me at the village, I started to like him. And until now, I have feelings for him, but it seems to have grown deeper. I always watch him whenever he's in soccer practice and brought him extra towels and water in case he ran out of it. I occasionally help him out with our assignments and we walk home together. We almost seem like partners but he'll never regard me as one.

_Flashback:_

_One Sunday morning an extraordinarily beautiful 11 year old brunette was picking up flowers and putting them orderly in a basket while humming._

"_Hey look! It's the girl!" A group of boys surrounded the said brunette who was collecting flowers_

"_W-what do you guys want from m-me?" Mikan tried her best not to stutter but still gave away the fact that she was scared. The leader of the group smirked at her reaction and then he kicked the basket and pulled on one of her pigtails!_

"_OUCH!" Mikan screamed. "Hey! That hurts! Please let go! STOP PLEASE!" She started crying as she tried prying off her oppressor's hand._

"_Ha-ha… You really are annoying, no wonder my sister hates you so much." _**Insecurity, one thing all females suffer from.**

"_Please let go already! If your sister hates me tell her I'm sorry! I didn't mean for her to hate me!" After she said that the leader of the group threw her harshly towards the tree, face first._

"_Ouch" The brunette yelped as she touched her nose only to find it severely bleeding, she tried to cover it with her handkerchief to ease the blood from rushing out but it didn't work._

"_That's disgusting" He punched her "You really are disgusting" He punched her again, but twice as hard as the first one. Mikan just cried as she was held both sides by two of her oppressor's companions._

"_I'm sorry" Mikan said weakly. "I didn't do anything wrong, I promise" she tried explaining only to receive another slap._

"_You took away the crown my sister deserves! Luna is the prettiest girl in your class and yet you were the goody-two-shoes your classmates picked to represent them."_

"_I'M SORRY! I didn't ask for them to pick me! I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" Mikan screamed as she cried out more._

"_You're starting to get on my nerves with all your screaming will you just SHUT UP!" He was about to slap her but was stopped by a hand._

"_You know, hitting girls will make you look gay. Well, you could be an exception for that, you look gay already"_

"_WHY YOU!" He was about to punch Mikan's savior but he wasn't fast enough. He received a kick far worse than you could ever imagine which sent him flying to the opposite tree. The other boys stared at the scene before them and were scared to the bones. They ran away immediately and dropped Mikan on the ground harshly_

"_Such a stupid excuse to hit my strawberry" Natsume whispered_

"_Hey, are you okay?" Mikan said as she tried standing up but failed so she just leaned on the tree._

"_Pfft... You are really something. You were the one who got hurt and you still ask me if I was okay?"_

"_Well, your kick was really hard, so I thought that you hurt your leg" She said weakly_

"_I'm okay."_

"_Thank goodness, oh! By the way! Thanks for saving me!" She cheerfully said though a hint of pain was noticeable in her voice._

"_Your nose is still bleeding"_

"_Oh! Sorry!" She immediately covered her nose with her already blood-stained handkerchief_

"_Here, let me help you with that." He fished out his own handkerchief and wiped to blood that was dripping out of her nose._

"_I'm Mikan" She introduced herself while he was wiping her nose_

"_Natsume Hyuuga"_

"_You have a nice name"_

"_You have a small nose"_

"_You don't need to say that"_

"_I want to say it"_

"_You're weird, but I like you" With those words said Natsume blushed a brilliant shade of red_

_Natsume accompanied Mikan to her house and she discovered that they were neighbors. They spent most of their time together ever since then._

_End of flashback…_

I know a lot about him than most people do, he loves cats, he has a thing for strawberries, he likes trees; sakura to be specific, he has a passion for photography and loves to take pictures of landscapes, he never had the interest in taking pictures of people, he said it was too ordinary.

_Flashback:_

"_Hey Natsume!" Mikan screamed while catching up to Natsume_

"_What do you want strawberries?" He answered while slowing down his pace_

"_Stop with the nickname already"_

"_I happen to love that nickname for you" Those words made her heart skip a beat._

"_Whatever, anyway, why don't you try out for soccer? I found the try out form on the bulletin board and I thought that you would want to join?"_

"_What made you think that I would try out for that game?"_

"_You kick hard"_

"_That's it?"_

"_Come on Natsume! We both know that you want to audition! You're an amazing player! You don't need me to tell you that you want to join the team that bad"_

"_Whatever"_

_Though his nonchalant reply, Natsume ended up auditioning for the soccer team and he successfully got in. He and Mikan celebrated his victory and went home afterwards._

_A few weeks later…_

"_Strawberries"_

"_What now?"_

"_Come with me"_

"_Where"_

"_Don't ask, just come with me"_

_Mikan got dressed first and Natsume drove them to a beautiful park. It was surrounded by Sakura trees in full bloom and it was only the two of them that were there._

"_Natsume, how come were the only one's here?"_

"_I don't know, when I came here it was also empty"_

"_Oh" She said as she was still astonished by what she was seeing. She turned around to ask Natsume why they where there only to find him taking pictures._

"_I see, it was all for the portraits" she whispered sadly "I kinda wished this was an indirect way of saying he wants to date me" she continued._

"_Hey, Natsume, why did you need to bring me here, I think you can handle yourself from here, ne?"_

"_I want you here" he whispered softly_

"_Excuse me?"_

"_No, let me rephrase that, I NEED you here, it would be less boring if you were around"_

_Mikan felt her cheeks start to heat up and quickly turned around before he had any suspicions. Unknown to her Natsume smiled softly and took a picture of her while she was looking solemnly at the sky._

"_Beautiful" He whispered and continued taking stolen shots of Mikan throughout the day. And of course, our little heroine had no clue at all._

"_I'm hungry"_

"_You're always hungry"_

"_What did you say?"_

"_I said you have a horrible diet"_

_Okay, I like him, but that doesn't mean he pisses me off…_

"_I'll go buy ice cream, wait here for a while Natsume" Mikan left the park and went to the nearest stand and bought a vanilla ice cream with strawberry bits on top and a chocolate one._

"_Here you go Natsume" she gave Natsume the chocolate ice cream_

"_I want yours"_

"_No, you have the chocolate"_

"_I want strawberry"_

"_I already bought you chocolate, besides, this is the last scoop of vanilla with strawberry bit-" Natsume immediately took the vanilla ice cream by force and bit the top part._

"_HEY! You took all the strawberries! Give it back!"_

"_I took I bite of it already, it's mine now" Mikan just stomped her feet and gave up._

_End of flash back…_

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><p><strong>Normal POV:<strong>

_5 hours later (After school)_

"Come on strawberries, let's go home" Natsume said as he reached for Mikan's bag

"Ano, Natsume? I kinda' forgot my textbook in science class" I said, knowing that Sumire is still in the lab working on her experiment.

"Let me get it for you" He said as she had expected. He left a few seconds later.

Mikan tucked her bag to her shoulder and left the school without waiting for Natsume.

_Meanwhile…_

Natsume entered the science lab with one reason only, and that is to get Mikan's text book.

Sumire was staring at Natsume as he was looking under every desk for something and decided to ask him what it was.

"Ano… Hyuuga-san, what are you doing?"

"Looking for Mikan's text book" He said not sparing a second to look at the speaker

"_Found it" _He thought. He was about to leave when Sumire spoke

"Uhm… Ano… N-natsume? C-C-Can we talk?" Sumire held her head low; scared that he would reject her immediately but what shocked her was his response

"Sure, what do you want?"

"W-w-w-w-well-ll-ll, y-y-y-ou s-see, an-n-no" Sumire could not form a proper sentence anymore. As she was stuttering Natsume lost the interest to listen to her and looked out the window only to see Mikan walking towards the school gate wiping something off her face.

"_Wait a second? Is she crying?" he thought worried for the brunette._

"Look here I don't have all day, I only came here for the book" Natsume said with his voice hinting he was in a hurry

"I LIKE YOU NATSUME HYUUGA! I ALWAYS HAVE! I always watch you; I want to learn more about you! Please will you go out with me?" Sumire rushed her words but they were clearly heard by our black cat. He just stared at her.

"Shouda-san, I-"

_The following day…_

Mikan saw Sumire with a big smile on her face, an unusual big smile. She started to think of the possibilities on why she was so blooming that morning.

"_Maybe she finally confessed to Natsume and they ended up together" she thought sadly but shook it off, if that where the case, then she should be happy for both of them._

"Good morning Mikan! How is my oh-so-beautiful-princess-like best friend?" Sumire hugged her so tightly.

"Sumire, what's wrong? You're acting weird?"

"I am? Wow, I didn't notice that, silly me." She said as she giggled

"Well then, how'd it go with Natsume?" At the very mention of his name, tears formed in her eyes and they gently cascaded down her cheeks.

"He likes somebody else." Sumire hugged Mikan and cried severely. She wasn't able to handle the hurt she felt inside anymore. She wanted to get over it quickly but it looks like she can't.

"So, he does like someone already. Its okay Sumire let it all out. Let it all out."

They both decided to skip classes and roam around different places; they bought ice cream, watched movies, and went to shop for new clothes. They had a lot of fun, and instantly Sumire forgot what she was feeling.

"Mikan! You are really great! You are the BEST!"

"You can say that again!"

"YOU ARE THE BE- oof" Sumire bumped into someone

"I'm so sorry! It was my fault! I wasn't looking anywhere! I'm sorry mi- SUMIRE?" the stranger said

"Oh my gosh! Koko! IS THAT REALLY YOU?" Sumire immediately hugged Koko tight and said so many "I miss you" phrases to him. Mikan watched as both friends reconciled and learnt that they went to the same elementary before. Koko had recently moved to Tokyo and was living nearby Sumire's neighborhood and both decided to make up for their lost time. Mikan was left alone and decided to go home. She sat on a bench to eat her ice cream quietly until someone sat beside her.

"You know, cutting classes is a really bad habit for strawberries like you" he said while taking the strawberry on top of my vanilla ice cream.

"I know, so why are you doing it? Oh-so-mighty-Hyuuga?" I said irritated that he took my strawberry. Okay forget the fact I like him, he just took my strawberry! AGAIN! That is unforgiveable!

"I was looking for you, you weren't in class, and someone told me he saw you sneaking off with your best friend" he said as he took little bites of the strawberry

"Okay! That's it! Give me back my strawberry!" I said feeling the anger rush through my veins

"No way, I already took a bite out of it, it's mine now."

"FINE! But never take my food again from me!"

"Good strawberries"

"Are you talking to me? Or the fruit you stole?"

"Both"

"Whatever, I'm tired. Let's drop by your house, it's closest from here."

"Fine"

Mikan and Natsume walked to his house which was only a few blocks away. Mikan decided to bring up a topic.

"Hey, Uhm, Natsume, what did you say to Sumire?"

"Nothing"

"Come on, Natsume, we're friends, tell me, she also happens to be my best friend and I want to know what you told her that made her cry"

"I told her I like somebody else."

"So it's true"

"You knew, yet you asked me"

"I wanted to confirm it."

"So who do you like?"

"Somebody else, I told you that already" He said jokingly

"Natsume, I'm serious"

"I'm serious too strawberries" he smirked

"You're ticking me off"

"I know"

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><p>They continued their conversation until they arrived at Natsume's house.<p>

"Hi Aunt Kaoru!" Mikan greeted as she hugged her most favorite aunt among all!

"Mikan! How nice to have you here again! It's been such a long time!" Kaoru returned the hug and didn't let go of Mikan just yet

"Uhm, Aunt Kaoru, you can let go now"

"No, not yet, it's been such a long time before you visited, I missed you so much Mikan. I always ask Natsume why he doesn't bring you here anymore" she softly whispered in her ear showing how much she cared for the girl.

"Will you still pass the offer of living with us? Come on Mikan, you have no guardian, you live alone, it's a healthy for a child your age to live with a family." She continued with pleading eyes.

"Sorry Aunt Kaoru, but the house is the only memory I have of my parents, it would hurt me if I left it alone like that" Mikan explained

"Are you gonna hug each other all day?" Natsume suddenly interrupted the moment.

"Look likes someone's jealous" Kaoru said playfully

"Someone wants a hug from our precious Mikan here" She said as she hugged the already blushing brunette.

"Whatever" He went to his room to change his clothes

"He's grumpy, come on Mikan, let's prepare you two some snacks, I still believe you're the best at cooking as always?"

"Yes Ma'am!" Mikan jokingly saluted and marched to the kitchen.

Mikan and Kaoru made chocolate chip cookies for snacks and had the milk ready on the table. Natsume watched Mikan's every move and teased her as she was measuring the ingredients. All in all they had a blast.

"That was delicious! And suddenly I had the urge to go to the mall. Bye Mikan! Bye Natsume"

"Oh! And Natsume?"

"What mom?"

"Take care of Mikan"

"Oh no Aunt Kaoru, I think I'll leave as well, it's getting late already" Mikan said as she hurried in packing her things.

"And leave Natsume all alone? No, no, no. Mikan, this is an order! You are to stay at this household. Toodles!"

"But! -"Kaoru had locked the door before she could reason out.

"Your mom is really weird"

"I thought you knew that already"

"Let's just watch a movie; I'm too tired to talk to you Hyuuga"

"Whatever, what movie?"

"Your choice"

"Final destination 4?"

"Final destination 4!"

They watched the movie while eating pop corn and the usual screaming was present, well, for Mikan it was. Natsume was as silent as a rock.

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><p>"That was awesome!"<p>

"I know"

"I'm sleepy"

"That was fast"

"So?"

"I want to sleep Natsume, its 9:46pm already, what's taking Aunt Kaoru so long?"

"I don't know" Natsume said while standing up. "You're clothes are still in my closet, you could take a bath, you stink already" he continued

"Natsume! I'll take my clothes instead" Mikan stood up and headed for Natsume's room.

"What do you think you're doing?"

"Going to your room, why?"

"Who told you to go to my room?"

"No one, I'm just getting my clothes, come on, Natsume, it's not the first time for me to enter your room, I've entered it ever since I was 11"

"That was 8 years ago"

"What makes the difference? We're still friends aren't we?" She reached for the door knob and before she could twist it Natsume stopped her.

"I'll get your clothes, you stay out here, Okay?" He immediately entered the room without me getting a little peek inside.

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><p><em>5 minutes later…<em>

"What's taking him so long?" Mikan whispered a little bit irritated

"Oh forget it, he's just taking my clothes, Natsume I'm coming in whether you like it or not!" She turned the door knob and was shocked to see what was in front of her.

Several pictures with her in it. They were everywhere, the floor, the walls, the ceiling; even his bed had photos of Mikan.

She looked at Natsume who was standing there in shock with a box in his hands, probably to stock to photos in.

"You know Natsume, I've seen it already, and you don't need to clean up" Natsume stopped and dropped the box on the ground

"What's the meaning of this?" Mikan questioned

"Isn't it obvious already?"

"No, all I see are pictures" Mikan said

"What's the meaning of these pictures Natsume?" she continued

"I like taking pictures"

"You like taking pictures of sceneries" Mikan corrected

"Yes, I do, but you seem to be an exception" he explained

"You say people are ordinary"

"You're extraordinary" He said

"I'm a person; I belong to the ordinary people"

"You're _my_ _strawberry_" He looked down, covering the blush that scattered along his cheeks.

"I don't get it Natsume, I'm confused, and you told me you liked somebody else"

"Correction, I told Sumire I liked somebody else, that somebody else is you" He took a step closer to Mikan.

"Mikan, I like you, no, I love you." A moment of silence was heard and Natsume was getting nervous until Mikan finally spoke.

"Natsume… This _-sob-_ is _really –sob -weird_" she started to cry.

"I've _-sob- _always wanted _-sob- _to hear you tosay _-sob-_ those words" She started sobbing harder. Natsume panicked and hugged her.

"Stop crying Mikan! Shhh, stop crying" Natsume said as he started soothing her back.

"Natsume" Mikan hugged his waist "This is a dream come true!"She hugged him tighter "I love you too" They stayed in each other's embrace until Natsume loosened his arms and faced Mikan. He was slowly closing their distance. He took one last glimpse at Mikan and asked

"Can I kiss you?"

"You don't need to ask that anymore" Mikan giggled

Natsume closed the distance between them and felt the softness of her lips. He bit her lower lip to ask for entrance and she gave in. She tasted better than he could ever imagine but he knew he had to stop. Their kiss lasted for 1 minute, both finding it hard to breathe.

"You taste exactly like strawberries"

"Shut up"

"Since you're a strawberry, you're mine now? Right?"

"I'm yours, all yours"

_"All happy stories deserve a happy ending, and I guess, I got mine" Natsume thought as he sealed their promise with a kiss_

_THE END_

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><p><em>There done! Finally! I know it's very long, I'm sorry for that! But thank you to all the people who read my story! Thanks again!<em>

_-devotionless-jade_

_XOXO  
><em>


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